Wednesday, August 21, 2013

As I sit here with a large cup of coffee (slurp), listen
to my 90s music playlist (coveted by many), and ponder life in the most cliché
way possible (we all do it…), the most prominent thought on my mind is one
week. One week stands before me and the beginning of my senior year. My last
year of college in addition to my final year of skating at Miami. Everyone
tells you that the real world sneaks up on you but you definitely don’t believe
it until it’s staring you straight in the eye. (Wait, there’s a world beyond
skating?!) I know, I didn’t think it was true, but, yes there’s a whole
world out there beyond our lives in the rink and I got a BIG taste of it this
summer.

The daily grind... literally

Blood, sweat, and tears. Ok maybe not blood, we can swap
nouns and replace that with espresso. Espresso, sweat, and tears. That almost sums
up my summer. Sounds rough, huh? It was… but let me tell you why my first
step into the “real world” was so worth it.

I did an
internship with a national marketing and advertising firm, but my job as an
account executive was in sales, working directly with business owners of both small businesses and large corporations with the goal of getting them to buy
advertising with our company. If you can picture yourself going into 30+ businesses per day and
talking with owners while essentially living out of a car with a 15 min
interval day planner as your lifeline and taking calls from your boss once an
hour at minimum, then you can get a pretty good glimpse of my typical day. It
was excruciatingly difficult. I got rejected. A LOT. No matter how much I
thought I was going to get up and just kill it, sales is RUTHLESS. In the first
couple weeks of the internship, I was laser focused on making profits and was extremely hard on myself when I didn’t have a good day of sales. (I
would later learn that generally you would get rejected 20 times before you
hear one “yes”.) But the feeling I had when I did hear that “yes” was
like no other.

The rink I skated at while working in Louisville, KY... such great people!

This was easily comparable to skating for me… you may have to go
through multiple competitions, maybe even multiple seasons with your team before you are on
top. But, when you finally get there, success tastes so much sweeter because of
the fact you stuck with it and persevered even during those hard times when you may have wanted to quit.

It wasn’t until a few weeks in that I realized the real
reason I was there and what I was really learning in this internship. I wasn’t
learning how to be a good salesperson or how to cut deals and rack in profits.
In retrospect, this summer was actually not about sales AT ALL. I was actually
learning and building upon some of the most simplest yet most important life lessons that are the ones vital to success.

Fun side trip to Nashville, TN with Miami friends

Empathy: The ability to put your self in someone else’s
shoes and genuinely understand where they are coming from and why they think
and feel the way they do. This is something most of us have heard since we were young but I was able to see this summer more than ever how important it actually is, especially in the business world. As one would imagine, in talking to roughly 30 business owners a day, I saw and
heard it all. The minute I stopped my sales pitch and started expressing an
interest in the business owners and listening to their stories, the minute my
sales went through the roof. This was no coincidence. They began to trust me
and could see that I wasn’t there to just push a product on them; it wasn’t
about me making a sale. I was there to help them and their business
and I could only do so by taking an interest in them as people, not as potential
revenue generators for myself. I built relationships with these business owners and
grew to understand their stories… and they were all unique.

Beyonce concert with Sarah and Lauren in Chicago

Empathy is something that will not only make you successful
in the workforce, but in all facets of life, and definitely in skating. When
considering leadership, only when you can have empathy and truly make an effort
to listen and understand why someone is the way they are and think the way they do can you
expect to be an effective leader and make a positive difference. As members of
a team, this is something that can benefit everyone whether you’re in a
leadership position or not. By genuinely trying to understand each one of our
teammates (and coaches) regardless of if we agree with their points of view or
style of learning/coaching, we would all be more successful in working together
to achieve a goal because of this common bond that is created through empathy.

My roommate Vanessa and I across the Ohio River overlooking Cincinnati

So, in the end, this summer didn’t make me dread the real
world, as grueling as my internship was. It made me excited for what is to come
because I saw firsthand how much I could accomplish with dedication and work
and also how much there is to LEARN. I know now that I can be successful in
whatever path I choose after graduation. There is so much opportunity out there
for those who are willing to work for it. So yes, life may get more difficult
after college, but it certainly doesn’t END.

For right now though, I have never been more excited to return to a place in my life. Red brick buildings and streets, wonderful friends,
my favorite bagel shop… Oxford is a dreamland. Here’s to the final hoorah at
the most beautiful campus there ever was. I’ll see you all in the rink as Miami gets back to the grind for the upcoming season. Love and Honor.

Over and out,

Ashleigh

(Now playing: Miami by Will Smith)

Celebrating the end of a successful summer with a joy ride on the Zamboni :)

Monday, August 19, 2013

This time last week, I had just finished a great day with
some very spirited young synchronized skaters, working as a counselor at the
Miami Synchronized Skating Camp, when I received the news that Sylvia Muccio
had passed away. Initially, I was completely devastated to hear that my very
first synchro coach had lost her battle with breast cancer. Once my initial
shock had been overcome, I was reminded of how much she had given me throughout
my synchronized skating career.

Team Image Juvenile 2001-2002

The synchronized skating world lost a truly dedicated and
passionate coach last week. Sylvia Muccio gave her heart and soul to the
skating community and touched the lives of countless people within it.

I wish that I could have thanked Sylvia for all that she did
for me in my first two seasons of competitive synchronized skating. She pushed
me to be the best skater that I could be and saw my potential from the very
start. Placing me on her juvenile team at 8 years old, when most people
(including myself) didn't think I was ready to move up, was probably one of the
best things that could have happened to me. Without the challenges she
presented me with, I know that I would not be where I am today. Because of the
foundation she gave me, I was able to help my team win a Junior National
Championship, compete in two Junior World Challenge Cups, fulfill my dream of
competing for Miami University, and compete in my first Senior World
Championship this year with her in the stands cheering on the USA.

Team Image Juvenile "Angels"

Although I didn't realize it then, Sylvia gave me more, both
on and off the ice, than I could ever truly thank her for. Despite the
practices in freezing cold rinks, with screaming frustration that we weren’t
doing it just right, I know that it was all out of her extreme love for the sport
and her efforts to make us the best skaters and people that we could be. I hope
that someday, I too am able to so greatly impact the lives of young skaters and
help them make their dreams come true, the way that Sylvia did for me!

I find it only fitting that the 2001-2002 juvenile program
that I skated for Sylvia was "Angel" themed. Now, the world of
Synchronized Skating has another wonderful angel watching over it!

Friday, August 9, 2013

I took some time off the ice this summer. I didn't touch ice
for the entire month of June; no regrets. As they say, absence makes the heart
grow fonder and I needed some time away from the world of skating. I started back up in July preparing myself
for DREAM camps, training festival and my official season in August. During that time off, and as I
prepared for training festival, I contemplated my time spent as a skater, my
role as a Team USA athlete and my identity as a DREAM Team member.

I won't lie to you, often it all seems pretty trivial. On
the radio yesterday I heard about dozens of people in the Middle East who lost
their lives for daring to attend funerals. I couldn't get myself out of bed two
hours early to go to the rink do something I purportedly love? And has it ever
occurred to you what you could get done with the person-hours and money you
have spent over the years on skating? Shoot. But the reality is that if I
didn't skate, I likely would have spent much of that time on my second favorite
sport, competitive sleeping. This train of thought leaves me a little
melancholy.

These thoughts and arguments are often directed at the time
and resources we put into professional sports and pricey art. When in a certain
state of mind, they sound valid, like they did to me yesterday morning. To a
certain degree they are valid. Are we as a society decadent? Yes. Is that a
reason to quit dancing and skating? I'm not convinced and here's why:

Summer trip to Washington D.C.

I am a proud Team USA athlete. I love to represent my
country, but there are a multitude of ways to do that, many arguably more
useful than on a synchronized skating team. However, this is what I choose to
do. I am able to proudly demonstrate my love of country through skating, because I am able represent myself through
skating. When I do it under the name of my team and my country instead of my
own, it means that much more. Talking to my teammates and DREAMmates I realize
that most of us feel this, though we recognize and express it differently.

In my last few years studying dance at an undergraduate
level, an important lesson that I've learned is that “all people are dancers
and everyone dances more than one dance”. Skating is an easy incarnation of
this principle. Art, sports, you name it, these things are not a waste of our
time, but instead define our time. Pushing ourselves in these undertakings are
expressions of our human spirit. They test our will and challenge our capacity
for greatness. So, do we get a little petty at skating, are our problems rather
trivial? Sure. But that by no means makes skating unimportant or wasteful. Skating is one of the many dances I will
dance in my life and I'm lucky to have it.

I took a little break this summer and I'm excited to join
back up with my team in Los Angeles for my final year as a Team USA competitor
and a member of California Gold senior. I won't lose sight of the problems of
the world, they keep my life in perspective. But nor will I lose sight of why I
take a break from my second favorite sport of sleeping for my first favorite
sport of skating in the early hours of the morning. I have to dance my dance.

Monday, August 5, 2013

I cannot believe it is already August. It seems like this
summer has just flown by, but I can honestly say I am extremely excited to head
back to school and begin my second year at Miami University (what?!). Along
with that, I am even more eager to get back into training with my teammates in
just a few short weeks!

Avalon Bay

This summer I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of
time with my family, which is something I am very thankful for. At the
beginning of the summer my entire family and I took a vacation to Santa
Catalina Island; a small island located off the coast of Southern California.
We rented a condo in the small city of Avalon, where everyone uses golf carts
for transportation and you can swim with fish in the ocean one day and go up to
the mountains to see wild bison the next. It seems as though my family is always
running around in different directions most days; so it was great to have this
short break where we could all relax and spend some quality time together.

My sister and I on the Catalina Express

Though time on the beach is nice; a great deal of my summer
has been spent, as always, in an ice rink. I went back to my previous job working
at my local rink; which is also where I carry out most of my summer training as
well. This year our rink hosted the ISI World Team Championships (which invited
over 2,000 skaters into our rink!) and is currently holding the Glacier Falls
Summer Classic; a competition held each summer for skaters from Surfer (no
tests) through Senior Men and Ladies. It was great to see so many different
types of skaters in all of these events; each of them expressing their love for
the sport in their own way. I also got to spend some time with Glacier Falls
Figure Skating Club Junior Board; a group that I was involved with for several
years and was previously the president of. It was really awesome to see the
girls running their booth at the competition and continuing to stay involved
with their club throughout the years.

From Left: Sharon, Holly, Lauren, Sarah, Ashleigh, and myself

Another great thing about being a DREAMer in the summertime
is being able to participate in the US Figure Skating Synchronized Skating
DREAM Camps and Training Festival. This year I was invited to the Midwest DREAM
Camp in Vernon Hills, IL. I was able work with a great group of young skaters, alongside
my fellow DREAMmates Ashleigh Ostin and Sharon Neff, as well as DREAM alumni
Lauren Bracken and Sarah Arnold. Leading the camp were Team USA coaches Jill Cipresso,
Lisa Darken, Holly Malewski, and Heather Paige.

Zumba class at Training Festival

Two weeks after the Midwest DREAM camp, all ten DREAM team
members and coaches from all over the country gathered in Prior Lake, MN for
the National Coaches College and Synchronized Skating Training Festival. This
was my second time attending the Training Festival as a DREAM team member, and
it was great to meet all of the new DREAMers when we arrived and so much fun to
bond with them over the weekend. Training Festival is a great experience
because it gives us the chance to work one-on-one with young athletes, as well
as assist some of the greatest coaches in the country, all while sharing our
love for the sport that brings us all together. I really enjoy being able to interact
with younger skaters; seeing their love and enthusiasm for the sport and I hope
that working with the DREAM team athletes only inspires them for their skating
in years to come. The DREAM Camps and Training Festival were definitely a
success this year and I hope that everyone who participated in them had as much
fun as I did!

Training Festival 2013

Following the Training Festival, I was able to spend a few
days in Minneapolis with one of my close friends who lives in the city. We spent
most of our free time strolling around Uptown Minneapolis; which is a fantastic
area filled with lots of cool little shops and many interesting people. On my
last day there, I was unfortunately unable to get a ride from my friend to the
airport. So because of it's close proximity to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul Airport;
I spent a few hours on my own at the Mall of America and then took a short taxi
ride to my terminal. Needless to say my wallet did not stand a chance… J

DREAM Team 2013

Anyways, I hope everyone’s summer is going well and you are
all getting excited for the 2013-2014 competitive season!